"Colleges & Employers Have Ways Around That" - Facebook Security Question

[WhopperJr]

I'm sure everyone has come across this phrasing at some point in time as a warning to putting any "potentially detrimental" content on Facebook, such as pictures of yourself drinking. As much as people complain about Facebook's alleged security holes, it seems as though if used correctly, Facebook security settings can be altered in such a way that explicitly prohibits selected content from being seen by friends vs. non-friends. You can even customize settings to allow/prevent select individuals or user-created "lists" from gaining access to said content. For instance, I can make an entire album of photos only available to a list of my close friends titled "bros," and no one else has access to it.

Am I right in thinking that my security settings are enough to prevent unwanted outside parties from accessing this album? Is it just hearsay, or are people actually going off of correct/proven sources when they tell me that "there are ways" to access the information I put on Facebook?

I think it's a legitimate fear only if you're being lax in monitoring your security settings. I suppose the only thing they could do to gain access to that information is by going through Facebook, but is that even legal/something that Facebook would comply with?

 

[Slaymate]

Anything can be hacked, sooner or later.

 

[patonb]

You'd have to complete not share stuff, as you post a photo of you and tag someone else, you show up on others pages you didnt plan to be on.

Setting everything off, most likely will save you, but its not a lock tite deal.

 

[KSoD]

You dont know about the flaws in the mobile versions of the apps that allow people to get full access to your profile, even if you have the content only shared with certain people. All it takes is a quick press of the photos button or any other button while your profile loads. BAM. They can access all of your content via any mobile device.

Yeah the settings mean nothing.

 

[office politics]

Outside of fb, are there any websites with good security controls. Google picasa maybe?

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Outside of fb, are there any websites with good security controls. Google picasa maybe?

So far Google+ seems to have very good privacy controls, far better than facebook's .

 

[KSoD]

Outside of fb, are there any websites with good security controls. Google picasa maybe?

Kinda. the thing with Picasa is that if they know how they can find your pics on there as well. They just added a privacy aspect to it. But all the pics I have on there are on G+ as well. So if they wanted to and I posted my stuff to the public and not just my circles, they could see it there as well. Really if you want to share stuff but not have it seen, SkyDrive has that ability to upload pics and keep them private to yourself and only share them with the people you send the links to. Honestly anything online can and will find a way around it if people really wanted to try hard enough.